Page 5

His question confused me. Who would be watching out for me in these woods, and how would he know? My hand gripped the dagger tighter. His golden eyes dropped to the blade in my hand, and I swore he was smiling.

“Are you implying that you have been protecting me?” I scoffed.

He took another step closer to me. An overwhelming urge to see his face overtook me. Why was he being secretive? I traced the outline of him, hoping something would tip me off to who he was. He was dressed oddly. He definitely wasn’t from Cerithia.

“Someone should protect you,” he said. “Monsters would love to get their hands on you, little viper.”

“Are you a monster?”

“Yes,” he said confidently and without hesitation.

“Show me your face. Do I know you?” Gods, why did he seem so familiar?

“No.” He turned his back on me and took a step away. He tensed, turning to the forest, and sighed like we were being interrupted. I glanced where he did, but I didn’t see or hear anything. When I glanced back to where he was, I had to step back in surprise. He had moved directly in front of me again. His large hand pushed my dagger away from him.

“I will not hurt you.” His golden eyes pierced into mine, and I felt no danger from him.

I believed him, and it was stupid. I didn’t know this man. I normally had good instincts, but they were all over the place right now.

“You told me you were a monster,” I whispered. His scent filled my space, and I wanted to bury my face into his chest and inhale deeply. He smelled like forest and rain, two of my favorite things.

“I am, butneverto you.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but he sighed heavily as he turned to look into the forest again.

“Get back!” Jesper yelled from the tree line. His panicked voice startled me out of whatever trance I was in, allowing me to realize just how close the stranger was to me. He must have enchanted me.

Sensing the danger I was in, my dagger flew forward, and the mysterious man grunted at the force of it settling into his stomach. Strangely enough, the sight of it made me want to apologize to him for some odd reason, but I didn’t. The viper-handle protruded from his stomach. I backed up, and Jesper’s hand wrapped around mine and pulled me close to him. Thehooded man groaned softly as he stood up straight and yanked the blade from himself.

“What the hell were you doing?” Jesper hissed at me through clenched teeth. “He was practically flush against you.”

I dropped my hand from Jesper’s and glared at him. He had left me out here without protest. I didn’t need him to rescue me from a man who didn’t seem to want to harm me. Jesper grabbed my hand again.

“You left her out here alone, on the blood moon,” the hooded man said loudly. His gold eyes flickered to where mine and Jesper’s hands connected, and I swore they swirled with black.

“She didn’t mind,” Jesper retorted. “And I came back.”

I could hear something else shifting behind the hooded man in the woods. My eyes strained in the darkness to see what it was. Jesper glared at me like this was all on me. I mean, I guess it was. I was the one who insisted on coming out here. I had never had issues before, though. Maybe it was the blood moon. Then a noise caught my attention, and I slowly turned. My eyes adjusted just as a monster started to appear from the dark woods behind the mysterious man.

The monster stood at least three feet above the stranger. Its skin was covered in thick, dark fur. Its arms were so long that they dragged on the ground as it slowly crept forward on its back legs. The monster’s long, pointed ears twitched as it watched us. The beady-red eyes didn’t blink as they emerged from the woods. The creature snapped its jaw, showing the rows of pointed teeth.

“Behind you!” I warned.

“Get her out of here,” he demanded at Jesper, who had froze when he saw the red eyes watching us.

Suddenly, the creature moved. It was so fast that I would have died if I had blinked. The hooded man pushed me out of the way just in time, almost as if he anticipated the attack, andspeared the monster with a sword I never saw him carrying. I tumbled to the ground with a loud, hard thump, and my head bounced where it landed. Dazed, I struggled to lift it. Once I did, I saw that Jesper had retreated into the woods without me. Asshole.

The monster lay next to me, dead. The man was hovering in front of me a moment later as I sat up. His hand brushed the hair off my face as his eyes traced over me, looking for wounds. The backs of his hands were tattooed, but I couldn’t make out what they looked like.

“Are you hurt anywhere?” His hands held my head gently. My gaze shifted over his shoulder when another one of the creatures came from the woods. It was easy to spot in the dark with its glowing red eyes.

It all happened so fast. Something inside of me stirred as the monster headed straight for the mysterious man. I opened my mouth to warn him, pointing at the creature that was racing toward us. Before I could get any noise out, fire exploded out of my fingertips, burning the monster into ash before it ever reached us.

Panic filled me at the realization of what I had just done. What the fuck was wrong with me? I didn’t have magic; I didn’t. I glanced at the man, confused. Fear laced every part of me; fire magic was not common. It was considered elite. If I had elite magic, my family would hate me.

“I guess you didn’t need me to protect you,” he chuckled.

I could hardly think as I stood up and began running through the woods, back toward the castle of Cerithia. I stumbled and tripped with deep pain consuming my head. Gods, I was hurt badly. I had just lifted my hands to see if there was any trace of fire magic on my skin when I heard something behind me. I went to grab my dagger but realized I had left it embedded in the hooded man’s stomach. Great.